The Spanish Kitchen

01/31/09

Spanish Kitchen ...no kitchen at all

by chefhel at Citysearch

As a professional chef this has to rate as one of my worst experiences ever. The service was horrfic. Our server Tara was ill equipped to handle rudimentary requests. She was flustered and unable to save a quickly deteriorating situation. The gratuity included with our party of 16, obviously sent the message to her that it was not neccessary to offer service at all. The food, hardly edible, the drinks poorly mixed. While the decor is interesting and the restaurant is well thought out, it is not worth the West Hollywood price. Wish I had read these reviews first. Spanish Kitchen start over and learn the basics, or do us all a favor and close your doors.

• Pros: decor
• Cons: service

07/30/08

Great place! but meanest bartender !

by jerifred at Citysearch

Good and fun atmosphere until Bartender (diedra) shhhh'd you and ruin the fun!

mean and condescending!

Food servings are OK ......but what makes a Fun and great place... I think are polite and fun staff!

I'd give it 1/10 for costumer service (or poor HR staff screening. this establishment should fire "liability staff" ) to improve overall costumer satisfaction.

07/17/08

overpriced .. Tries too hard..

by wizlaw at Citysearch

First of all. This is a Mexican restaurant.. NOT SPANISH. .with really average Mexican food..

Secondly, the place is completely overpriced !!!!

A really bad SMALL quesadilla was about ten bucks. Entrees are about $30.. The food quality was poor.. something that

Third Strike: Is TOTALLY snooty. Getting reservations was a pain when we went it appeared only 1/2 full, and they act like its a "scene" when it isn't.

Fourth Strike: Service is bad.. the waitress took too long to bring out food and when they did, ,the food was cold. I sent my plate back.. they took 15 mins to re-heat it.. I think this goes along with the snooty behavior and they take great pains to ensure that the service is poor and to give out the impression i.e. take it or leave it..

I think I have had better Mexican food at El Torito or even Baja Fresh..

Save your money...

• Pros: overpriced
• Cons: Snooty

07/02/08

Worst Taco Tuesday Birthday Dinner

by laemtandrew at Citysearch

Avoid the taco tuesday night. About 8 of us had dinner on a Monday night a few months back for some enchiladas. The service was pleasant/good and the enchilladas were pretty great. 10 of us went back last night for their Taco Tuesday night. We'll, the tacos sucked and the service was pretty bad. The tacos were the size of a half dollar with a very skimpy amount of meat and the waiter got all over our tacos mixed up. We didnt know what we were eating. I'm mexican and not too picky but the beans, rice and tortillas were pretty awful too.The bill ended up being 300.00. I'll probably go back for the enchiladas.

06/25/08

Horrible Service, Drinks, Food -- the worst

by dognique at Citysearch

I went to the Spanish Kitchen on a weekend night with a friend because we were looking for a fun way to beat the heat with blended margaritas and delicious food. Boy, was that a mistake.

When we arrived, the hostess staff was flustered and confused by people waiting to be seated in front of us, seriously acting as if they had never done this before (in this or any other restaurant). There was no room for us at the bar and we were seated around a half hour later, not too bad considering that there we were walk ins, but it only got worse form there.

The margaritas, ?Award wining? according to their menu, would easily win the award for ?The Weakest, Blandest, Most Tasteless Yet Sour Dishwater Concoction Ever Invented.?

The waiter was rude and useless when we told him that our drinks were not to our liking. He suggested that they did not taste good because they were blended. Does blending somehow violate laws of taste and render things disgusting?

The wait staff was in general rushed ? the servers repeatedly tried to bring the wrong food to our table, and then to the table next to ours, and then wandered around the restaurant helplessly asking everyone who ordered what.

The food, when it arrived, was rubbery, soupy, tasteless, and banal. The overpriced bill was the punchline. I told my friend that we would have done much better to take out from Baja Fresh and buy a six pack of cold beer.

There are so many wonderful, delicious Mexican restaurants in LA ? aside from the location and attractive decor, I have no understanding how this place is still in business.

AVOID!

06/25/08

No Air Conditioning, Horrible Service, and Weak Margaritas

by Paris33 at Citysearch

I recently went to the Spanish Kitchen on a Saturday night. This place is unbearably hot and loud. The margaritas were watered down and we complained to our server who said it was probably because they were blended. I have had many blended margaritas in my time that were delicious and it's not because a drink is blended that it should taste bad. He then asked us what would make them taste better and offered lime or more tequila. We added more lime and it just made them taste more limey and sour. The server should have just offered to replace them right away, seeing that they did not taste good. We gave up on that and the server had the nerve to ask us if we wanted another margarita after we'd finished the first watered down version. Also server said he would get us water, however he couldn't because the dishes were in the dishwasher and there were no glasses. The table next to us somehow got water and we didn't. Finally the food arrived and wasn't that great, a bit over priced for the quality. We had an overall poor experience here, paid $70 plus tip for a lousy meal.

06/07/08

Insulting at Best

by EatninLA at Citysearch

I am a foodie, dated chefs, parents own a catering service... this place is terrible... went with a friend for a late

3 p.m. lunch and ordered chips and guacamole and drinks to begin because we were starving...although the guacamole was good, $6 for a small bowl and her margarita was weak and watery with ice...I had this sangria and champagne for $10 and it was blah. Ordered three tacos because the lunch menu was limited and din't want too much food...Since I am trying to watch the carbs I asked for grilled veggies on the side...20 minutes later and I should have known from the lack of presentationof the plate. Three tacos on a plate with just shredded lettuce and no color or herbs...and the vegetables were steamed, or microwaved squash which was watery with green beans. The plate looked like something my 80 year old grandmother would get at a cafeteria in her Convalescent home. The three tacos, one with carne asada, one with chicken, and the last with pork came only with shredded lettuce and a slice of scallion. The carne asada was decent, but the chicken was like boiled, shredded chicken...no flavor, no onions, no cilantro, nothing. The pork was rubbery and doused in barbeque sauce--what the hell? Carnitas, I think not! I couldn't even eat it. Seriously, spend your money elsewhere.. I get better tacos at a truck in East L.A....I can't imagine how anyone would give this place more than 1 star. If you want some good Mexican food and killer drinks, go to Mexicali on Ventura in Studio City...they serve margatinis...chilled martini glasses with a martini take on the margarita...to die for !

05/16/08

Mediocre Food, Horrible Service

by Jennapeed at Citysearch

My friend was looking for a restaurant to celebrate her birthday at when she stumbled upon this place. After looking through their website she was super excited to tell everyone about the place she had settled on. Despite the fact that she had reservations we were made to wait an additional 30 minutes to be seated. While placing our drink orders our waitress left before I could place mine. Instead of making a big deal out of this my husband and I shared his "gigante" marguerita which was not all that big and filled to the brim with ice. For a meal one would usually spend $8 for, you would pay $15-$20 here. I ordered a tostada salad that ironically did not have a tostada shell. It was incredibly bland and very small in portion. My husband ordered some enchiladas and was disappointed with what he received. There was little to no sauce and the tortillas were rubbery. His entire family comes from Guadalajara and was brought up on Traditional Mexican food. "For this being a Mexican restaurant there's nothing Mexican about it" were his exact words. The ingredients weren't fresh, the drinks were expensive and nothing special, it seemed the dishes were made by people that knew nothing about Latin American cuisine, and the service was bad that I was debating on asking for the manager. My friend felt embarrassed and cheated. To top it all off our waitress didn't come back for 45 minutes to pick up the check. Finally as the place was closing she came back and casually asked "Did you want your change?". I will never go to this place again nor will I ever recommend it. If you want good Mexican food I suggest going to Gardens of Taxco where you will pay almost the same amount for five traditional courses and the margaritas are delicious.

• Pros: The resturant looks nice
• Cons: everything else

05/12/08

Terrible service, lackluster food

by sghira at Citysearch

After hearing so much about the Spanish Kitchen, my family and I were excited to try it for Mother's Day dinner. The service was terrible. The waiter initially took forever to come to us. When he did come, he was rude and snobby. Didn't give us any of the specials, and every question was given a monosyllable response, and was generally 'no.' The appetizers were dull and boring. The food arrived before we were even done with our appetizers, and the waiter was asking about dessert even before we were finished eating our entrees. Seemed like they were in a rush to get us out of there. The main entrees were decent, but nothing to rave about. Won't ever go there again.

05/07/08

WORST EXPERIENCE IN LA EVER!!!!

by Foodie3131 at Citysearch

RUDE, SNOBBY, DISMISSIVE, INSULTING, LACKLUSTER FOOD, TERRIBLE SERVICE and CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS WRONG are just some impressions that come to mind when I think of Spanish Kitchen. I have never written a review in my life, however, felt compelled to share my story after an infuriating dinner experience at Spanish Kitchen. I should have known it was a bad sign when waiting for our table at the bar, it took nearly 10 minutes to get the bartenders attention. Then took another 20 minutes to get our drinks sent to the table. Waitress was MIA most of the time and rude (I get it we all have bad and busy days, but tell us if that's how you feel.) Finally it was so bad I b-lined to the guy who looked like he was in charge of this amateur hour to politely voice my table's displeasure. What did I get in return? A mouth full of excuses about how busy they were (there weren't even people waiting to be seated at this point). He pretended to care, but his tone said otherwise. He almost made me feel bad for the feedback. To add insult to injury he thought he'd make amends by giving us all shots. Awesome, we read you loud and clear buddy, you think we're dumb girls happy to accept terrible watered down shots as peace offerings. You thought wrong my friend.

Okay, I have one positive thing to say. The margaritas and sangria were delicious. If you have to go, just grab a drink at the bar and save your money for dinner at its sister restaurant, which I do like very much, the Belmont.

• Pros: good margaritas and sangria
• Cons: THE WORST SERVICE AND ATTITUDE EVER